


365 Days of Romitri

by OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany



Category: Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Body Image, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Mentions of Near Death Experiences, Mentions of gunshot wounds, Nudity, OC, OCC - Freeform, Occasional Instances of Nudity, Original Character(s), Original Child Characters, Past Relationship(s), Slice of Life, Smut, They're only mentioned very vaguely, Tropes?, body image issues, is that a tag?, is that the tag?, it should be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 22:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13397808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany/pseuds/OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany
Summary: A Romitri drabble a day keeps the doctor away.





	1. Day 1: Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri ponders on the meaning of happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyo,
> 
> So I have decided that I want to be posting regularly this year and I figured the best way to get in the habit of writing everyday is to write a short drabble everyday. So yeah I am endeavouring to write a 500-word-ish drabble for Romitri each day.
> 
> Obviously we are halfway through January so I'll be posting a couple of times a day until I catch up. Also I can be completely unreliable about things like this so while I may not post EVERYDAY rest assured there will be 365 drabbles before 12:01 Jan 01 2019.
> 
> Also, I have no idea what I'll end up writing so while most will probs be canon-compliant, pre-canon, post-canon, I may end up writing some canon-divergence and AU's as well, who knows?
> 
> Warnings, rating, and tags will change as I go.
> 
> Hope you enjoy xx

Dimitri had grown up always expecting a certain type of life for himself.  He’d grown up knowing that he’d dedicate himself to a lifetime of service and in doing so a lifetime of solitude.  He knew he was giving up the chance to ever get married, and have children of his own.  He knew that he would probably never have a family outside of the one he’d grown up with.  And he’d come to be okay with that.

That was of course, before Rose Hathaway blew into his life, like a beautifully sarcastic tornado.

Before Rose, Dimitri had found his happiness with his family, the mother and grandmother who’d raised him, his three sisters who’d always supported him, his nieces and nephews who brought light to his life.  Before Rose, he’d found peace in knowing that he was protecting others, allowing them to enjoy all the things he couldn’t, and safeguarding the future of his race.  Even at St. Vlad’s there’d been a certain satisfaction in guarding the youth of society even though he’d never imagined himself working at a high school.  Each of these things hadn’t assuaged that deep-seated longing for something more, but they’d helped.

Now years later, watching his own family, Dimitri can’t understand how they’d ever come close to being enough for him.

Dimitri sits on the porch, baby Ivan just a little gurgling bundle in his arms, happy despite the early hour.  Dimitri shifts him gingerly, still terrified even months later that he’ll accidentally hurt him; Ivan had been born several weeks premature and still seemed so much smaller than his older sister had ever been.  But they weren’t worried, not with Yeva’s constant reassurance that he’d grow up big and strong just like his parents.

A high warbling laugh steals his attention away and Dimitri glances up, eyes finding his wife and daughter sitting a few feet away on the grass, still warm from the afternoon sun.  The deep glow of the late sun illuminates both their hair, Rose’s shining black, and Anastasia’s chocolate brown, only two years old and already spilling down her back in thick curls.  Rose looks a little bleary eyed but happy, face tilted towards the last scrape of sun on the horizon.  It’s early for them to be awake but something instinctual in their daughter, Anastasia has her waking most days in time to see the sunset.

“Look, my little miracle,” Rose murmurs to Anastasia in gentle russian, guiding her daughter’s attention to the brilliant colours in the sky.  Big golden turn to the brilliant reds and purples painting the sky, the truck she’d been playing with dropping from her hand, already forgotten.

Rose takes the opportunity to scoop up the toddler, momentarily turning her back on the sight to cross the yard back to her husband and son, the sun edging her in a golden halo of light.  Anastasia isn’t so easily distracted and continues to watch the sun over her mother’s shoulder, little mouth dropping open in awe.  Rose settles down on the porch at Dimitri’s side, tucking Anastasia in between them.

“Dadda.” Anastasia tugs insistently at Dimitri’s pant-leg as though there is a chance he might be missing the sunset.  “Pretty sky,” she coos sounding delighted.

But Dimitri only has eyes for his wife.  “Beautiful,” he agrees.

Rose rolls her eyes but can’t contain the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.  Dimitri grins and slips an arm around Rose’s waist, tugs her closer, and together the family watches the sun slowly disappear below the horizon, a little slice of happiness to start the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you may have guess Day 1 was Happiness. Hope you enjoyed those Romitri fam feels. Let me know what you thought :)


	2. Day 2: Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is troubled by her scars but Dimitri is there to reassure her.

They were so busy that at first Dimitri didn’t even notice.  The days after Lissa’s coronation were a whirlwind; Dimitri and Rose both were assigned new apartments in the Guardian living quarters, they both had to settle into new jobs, and Rose was determined to be there for Lissa in her first days as Queen.  Not to mention the fact that Rose was still recovering from her bullet wounds.  So it made sense that they barely had time to kiss each other hello before one of them had to go running off let alone have an active sex life.

Still things settled down after a few weeks; Rose was finally cleared for work again, they actually got to go on their first proper date, and everything was going great.  Except for the fact that they still hadn’t had sex.  It was odd, everything would be going fine, Rose acting normally until Dimitri would go to push up her top, or unzip her dress, and she would become abruptly bored, roll away, or suggest they do something else.  Dimitri wasn’t overly worried and he certainly wasn’t going to push her to do something she obviously wasn’t comfortable doing but still it was curious.

It was almost three weeks after Lissa’s coronation before Dimitri got his answers.

Having planned to do something together after her shift, Dimitri let himself into her apartment when his knocking failed to get a response.  He figured he would either find her in the shower already, or would wait for her to get back from her shift.  Dimitri was just settling himself in front of the tv to wait when he heard a quiet scuffle coming from the bedroom and went to investigate.

He found Rose standing before the mirror, still dressed in her uniform with only her shirt unbuttoned, seemingly lost in thought; she hadn’t responded to the door opening, nor did she react as he padded quietly over to her.

“Rose,” he said, when he reached her, carefully quiet so as to not startle her.

Still she jumped slightly as her eyes flickered up to meet his in the mirror.  She didn’t move away when he palmed her hips hesitantly then slid his  arms around her waist but rather she seemed to melt back into him.  Her hand didn’t move however away from her chest where she was idly tracing the scars from the bullets.  He hadn’t seen them before but had expected them.  He kept his eyes firmly on hers.

“They’re just so…”  Her mouth twisted into an unhappy line.  “...ugly.”

Unwittingly his eyes dropped, taking in the sight: two small, rippled circles where the bullets had first impacted bisected by two inch lines where they’d had to cut her chest open further to get the bullets out and repair the damage.  Rose made an upset sound at the back of her throat, pulling away from Dimitri’s embrace, and yanking her shirt closed over the wounds.

“It’s stupid,” she said sounding choked.  “It doesn’t even matter.”

“Roza,” Dimitri murmured, catching a hold of her arm as she tried to push past.  He brought her gently to stand back in front of him and slid a into her hair to cup her neck, rubbing a soothing thumb along her jaw.  “Look at me,” he said softly, tilting her head up so their eyes met again.  “Nothing you care about could ever be stupid,” he said firmly, before bending to brush a soft kiss to her lips.

Rose gave a shaky sigh, a warm exhale on his lips but nodded, and before she knew what was happening Dimitri had slipped his hands under her thighs and lifted.  Her legs went around his waist on instinct while her hands fisted in his unbound hair while Dimitri crossed the short distance to the bed and lowered them both to it.  He opened her shirt and gazed down at her scares almost reverently.

“Do you know why I love them?” he asked, and dipped down to press a kiss to the first one, situated right in the valley between her breasts.  When he glanced up Rose’s eyes seemed very dark as she shook her head breathlessly.  “I love them,” he said, touching his lips to the other mark, just over and down from the first.  “Because they remind me how lucky I am that I didn’t lose you.”  

Under his lips he felt another shuddery sigh pass through Rose.  That was the only warning he got before he was being hauled up for a desperate kiss, her tears wet against his cheeks.  He spent hours worshipping her body that night, pressing kisses to each of the calluses on her hands, mouthing along a scar that traversed her thigh.  And then they finally made love, with Dimitri murmuring into Rose’s ear every way he thought she was beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo,
> 
> Here's another chapter for you guys. Hope you guys like it and let me know what you thought :)


	3. Day 3: Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new baby means a lack of sleep for the parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set when Anastasia is about 8 months old. Also I know nothing about babies so sorry if any of this is inaccurate.

Sleep was an odd thing; you need it to survive, yet it’s seen as inconsequential, something to substitute with caffeine and energy drinks in your youth, and then to sacrifice for more important things as an adult.  But you don’t really understand how much you take it for granted until you have children.

Sitting outside her daughter’s nursery and listening to her scream her head off, Rose was beginning to realise this.

The floor was cold beneath her, and the door uncomfortable at her back but Rose couldn’t bring herself to move.  Her eyes itched with tiredness even as Rose pulled up another article on her phone, this one titled ‘12 reasons babies cry and how to soothe them’.  Her and Dimitri had already gone through every baby book in the apartment, but they’d failed to yield any possible reason Anastasia had been crying for hours, so while Dimitri took a turn trying to soothe their daughter Rose turned to the almighty wisdom of the internet.

“Oh my god,” Rose murmured, thumping her head back against the door, when Anastasia’s crying seemed to get impossibly louder.  That was the only warning she got before the door was suddenly opened, sending her sprawling between a surprised Dimitri’s feet.  

Even from the floor Rose could see how tired her husband looked; his eyes were red and there were dark shadows underneath from a lack of sleep, and several days worth of scruff decorated his jaw, a sight Rose would usually appreciate except she didn’t have the energy for such thoughts lately.

“Found anything yet?” Dimitri asked, sounding too tired to ask why Rose was on the ground.

Rose squinted up at her phone screen.  “We went on a drive.”

“Yep,” Dimitri replied tonelessly over the sound of Anastasia’s wailing.

“We fed her.”

“Of course.”

“Burped her.  Checked her diaper.  She’s not teething yet.  Oh hold on,” Rose said sitting up.  “ _ It seems like tired babies should simply be able to go to sleep, anytime, anywhere.  Instead of nodding off easily, babies may fuss and cry – especially when they're overtired.  I've noticed that if my baby starts crying after being played with, fed, and changed, and she's been up for a while, she is overtired! I just hold her close, talk to her in a soft voice, and let her cry and before long, she's sound asleep.” _

“Worth a try,” Dimitri said, blinking blearily down at her.

Rose lumbered to her feet, feeling appropriately graceless, but took Anastasia with steady hands, cradling her baby girl to her chest and trying to ignore the heartbreaking tears streaming down her face.

Dimitri watched them together for a long moment before jerking out of his reverie.  “I need a coffee,” he muttered, scrubbing a hand over his eyes.  “Do you…?”

“Can you get me a chai please?  And don’t drive, babe, you’ll crash into something.”

“Yeah.  I’ll walk over to that place that stays open late, wake myself up.”

Dimitri brushed a feather-light kiss over Anastasia’s head and then to Rose’s cheek before letting himself out of the apartment.  Rose, meanwhile, walked back into their bedroom, settling herself on the bed, cradling Anastasia to her chest, and talking to her in low, soothing tones about everything from the events of the day to old stories that she dredged up from the past.  She talked for so long in a low drone that her voice became soothing to even her own ears, and eventually as Anastasia’s crying settled to the occasional whimper and she started to drift off, Rose found herself following suit.

Fifteen minutes later, Dimitri let himself back into the apartment as quietly as possible just in case Rose had managed a miracle in his absence.  He paused in the entryway, silence greeting him and let out a long breath of relief.  He crept through the apartment and into the bedroom, smiling fondly at the sight that awaited him.  Rose was asleep, head tipped back against the bed head, with Anastasia sleeping soundly on her chest.  He scooped his daughter up with not even a murmur, while Rose frowned absently in her sleep before rolling over.  After that it was simple enough to deposit Anastasia in the nursery, and return to their bedroom, barely bothering to turn off all the lamps before collapsing into a dreamless sleep next to his wife, coffee and chai forgotten and slowly cooling on the bedside table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one today. Let me know what you thought :)


	4. Day 4: Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out Rose isn't all that good at taking care of living things.

“How goes the garden?”

The words were preceded by the woosh of the glass door on the runners, signalling Dimitri stepping out on the balcony.  It’s a tiny thing, barely big enough for the table and chair they’ve got squished onto it, narrow enough that Rose can comfortably have her feet against the rail, and attached to the only slightly bigger apartment they’d been assigned when they officially moved in together.  

The dawn chill nipped at Rose’s exposed skin but she hadn’t been able to resist the long-held urge of hers, hence why she was sitting there only in an old knit jumper and a pair of panties, observing the section of court the balcony looked out on when there was no one there to see her; something she just knew Dimitri was giving her a  _ look  _ for.

Rose shifted her feet aside to get a look at the collection of pots cluttering the edge of the balcony, filled with mostly brown things.  She wrinkled her nose and tilted her head back to glance up at Dimitri.

“Not so good.”

Rose had worked right through the early morning and so had slept most of the day resulting in her being awake when everyone else was already in bed.  Dimitri inversely looked like he was about to leave for his own shift.  The phrase ‘two ships passing in the night’ flitted through Rose’s head but she tried not to dwell on it too long.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for this enrichment, tenderness crap,” Rose said, frowning back down at her pots..

“I think you just need more practice,” Dimitri insisted, sounding much more optimistic than Rose felt.

“Yeah,” Rose said glumly.  “Maybe I’ll just get Lissa over to, you know…” Rose wiggled her fingers in an poor imitation of Lissa’s magic.  “God I could really go for a-”

A steaming mug appeared over her shoulder.  “Tea?” Dimitri offered, a smile in his voice.

Rose took it with a moan of delight and smiled up at him once more.  “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Not lately,” Dimitri grinned.  His smile faded after a moment, “I have to go  _ lyubov moya.” _

Rose sighed.  “Be safe,” she demanded and pulled him down for a kiss.

“Always.  And try to revive those plants.”

“Yeah yeah,” Rose grumbled, shooting her plants a venomous look before turning her attention back to the horizon, warming her hands on the mug as she watched the sun steadily climb in the sky.


	5. Day 5: Imagination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose has a moment of doubt and promptly loses her mind.

“Never have I ever faked an orgasm.”

Five pairs of eyes inspect each other, daring each other to go for the shot glasses.  After a long moment Rose breaks the staring contest, glancing over her shoulder.  “I’m not sure I feel comfortable answering that  _ here.” _

But Lissa remains unconcerned.  “Don’t worry.  They see nothing and hear nothing.  Right, guys?”

The guardians lining the walls remain stoic while Avery, Captain of the Royal Guard and Rose’s superior nods sharply and says, “Of course, Your Majesty.”

Lissa nods in satisfaction and turns back to the others, still eyeing each other.  Rose however remains unconvinced and grimaces at her colleagues.  “If one word of any of this gets out, I’ll personally hunt each of you down, got it?  Except for you sir,” she adds quickly, glancing at Avery.  “But only because I’d get locked up for insubordination,” she mutters under her breath before she too turns back to the game.

“Well,” Mia demands.  “Never have I ever faked an orgasm.”

A sigh goes through the circle before three hands reach in for the shot glasses.  Mia, of course is empty-handed, as is Rose.  The other three, Sydney, Lissa, and Jill, all looking sour-faced toss back their shots.

“Explain,” Rose grins.

“Bad one-night stand,” Jill says looking put out.

“It’s only sometimes when we’re tired, and I can’t quite get there,” Sydney says with an unconcerned shrug but Rose all but cackles at the blackmail material she now has on Adrian.

“Same,” Lissa agrees.  Her eyes narrow as she looks between Mia and Rose.  “Now you two.  How have you never had to fake an orgasm.  Are you saying you’ve never not gotten there?”

“No, no.  There have been a couple of shitty one-night stands that didn’t care enough to get me there, so I didn’t care enough to pretend.  But never with Eddie, he’s very… detail oriented,” she says with a lascivious grin.

All eyes turn with Rose. 

“I’ve never had sex without getting an orgasm out of it,” she says smugly.  “Dimitri too is very thorough.”

“And before Dimitri,” Mia asks, reaching for some chocolate from the table.

“There was no before Dimitri,” Rose says bluntly.

Mia’s eyebrow raise and Rose knows she’s thinking about back at the academy and all the comments she’d made before they’d been friends.  “Like at all?” she asks, sounding curious rather than accusatory.

“He was my first.”

The circle as one coos and Rose wrinkles her nose.

“That’s so cute,” Sydney says.

“Yeah,” Lissa agrees with a sigh, even though she’d already knew.  “I wished I’d waited.”

“Same,” Jill agrees.

“Alright, who’s next?” Rose asks just to get the attention off her.

“Uh, me,” Jill says.  “Ok, never have I ever done bondage.”

Lissa is the only one to reach in this time, and she does so, drinking her shot, grumbling the whole way about how vanilla they all are.

“Explain,” Sydney demands.

“Just something to spice up our sex life,” Lissa shrugs, trying to look unconcerned but a pink blush betrays her.  “I was worried Christian was getting bored.”

The others laugh, already moving on but Rose’s mind is stuck, tripping over the words “ _ getting bored”  _ over and over again as though they are a record skipping in her mind.   _ Oh shit,  _ she thinks in desperate panic because she’d never thought- never stopped to even consider that maybe-

_ Oh fuck. _

She vaults from her chair, gurgles out a hasty reassurance that she’ll be right back, and flees out of there like a bat out of hell.  Rose has never been more glad that Adrian and Sydney’s apartment is so close to the palace as she sprints over there, where the guys were having a gaming night.

“Are you bored with our sex life.”

She’s standing in the doorway where she’s just flung open the door and Dimitri, Adrian, Christian, and Eddie are all goggling at her like she’s lost her mind.  And maybe she has.  She isn’t feeling too sane right now.

“Umm, no,” Dimitri finally says, the word coming out more like a question.

Rose gives a hysterical chuckle, sarcastically says, “Well that’s very reassuring,” and promptly leaves again.  Behind her she can hear Dimitri swearing colourfully in Russian, the sound of the game unpausing, and then nothing as Dimitri pulls the door behind him.

“Rose-” he starts, reaching for her, but she whirls away, pacing up and down the hallway as she babbles.

“I never thought to ask any of this- and you know you always seemed happy- but Lissa was saying how she and Christian were getting bored-”

“Rose are  _ you  _ bored with our sex life,” Dimitri asks abruptly.

“No,” Rose says, sounding affronted.

“Neither am I.  And if you ever wanted to try something new you just need to talk to me about it.”

Rose grins up at Dimitri and reaches up for a quick kiss.  “This is why I love you.  So we’re good now?”

“We always were,” Dimitri reminds her.

“Good because I need to get back to the girls, they’re probably thinking I’ve gone crazy.”

“ _ I’m _ thinking you’ve gone crazy,” Dimitri tells her, but he sounds fond.

Rose just grins, kisses him again, and runs back to the girls before they put out a missing persons report for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly have no idea what this. So sorry about that. But I wanted to post today. Sorry for not posting yesterday but it was my best friend's 18th birthday so it was kind of crazy.


	6. Day 6: Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are lazy middle of the night secrets and lazy middle of the night sex.

Rose hums, a long and thoughtful sound, half-closed eyes dancing with barely suppressed mischief.  She paints quite the image, stretched out on the bed, no covers to hide all the bare, golden skin she has on display.  It’s summer and burning hot, keeping them awake when they really should be sleeping, but neither of them have anywhere to be tomorrow, so Dimitri isn’t worrying about it.

“Tell me a secret,” Rose decides, lazily purring the words.

“What kind of secret?” Dimitri murmurs back, momentarily distracted as Rose shifts restlessly from the heat.

Rose grins, a wicked thing that promises delicious pain.  “Tell me about your first time.”

“ _ Is _ that a secret?”  Dimitri’s hands itch with the urge to touch his girlfriend, knowing from experience how soft her skin feels under his palms.

“You’ve never told  _ me  _ about it.”  

A foot reaches out and kicks at his knee gently to punctuate the accusation, but Dimitri is too concerned with catching the foot to respond.  Using the grip on her ankle he tugs her towards him, rolling her so she’s splayed on top of him. Rose makes a quiet noise of protest as their heated skin is plastered together but doesn’t attempt to pull away.

“Why do you want to know?”  The conversation is the last thing on Dimitri’s mind, especially when he can feel all of Rose’s curves pressed against him, and the hand he trails along her thigh is making her shiver.

Above him, Rose shrugs and drops a wayward kiss to his pec.  “Curiosity. You know all about my first time after all. Besides,” she adds, smirk in her voice as she rolls her hips where he has been steadily hardening against her backside.  “I’ll make it worth your while.” She reaches up and catches Dimitri’s ear lobe between her lips, laving with it her tongue in a dirty promise of things to come.

It’s Dimitri’s turn to shudder and his hands clamp down on her hips, pulling her more firmly against him.  When he speaks, his accent has grown thicker, and the words leave him in a gasp. “It was in my junior year with one of my dhampir classmates.”  He breaks off for a moment, too overcome but the way Rose is now running her tongue along his abdominals. “It wasn’t terrible, but neither of us really knew what we were doing.”

Rose nips at his hip bone, before glancing up, cocking her head.  “Did you love her?”

Dimitri considers the question.  “No,” he decides eventually. “I think at the time I thought I was falling for her, but I had no idea what love was, not really.”

“Interesting.”

Dimitri wants to ask what’s so interesting about any of that, or maybe ask whether the interrogation is over and if they can move on to more enjoyable activities now, but Rose is quicker and with a quick lick of her lips she dips her head and he’s too busy groaning sharply, and clutching at the sheets, all thoughts of any one else driven from his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I'm still alive and haven't totally abandoned this fic. Apparently a sure fire way to get me not to do something, is to say I'm going to do it, for instance, write a 500 word drabble a day. Anyway, sorry for going M.I.A but uni is hard yo and life is kicking my ass. But I hope you liked this, next up is 'give' (super vague, I know) so let me know what you thought of this one and what you might like to see in the next chapter in the comments xx


	7. Day 7: Give

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romitri gets a puppy

Rose and Dimitri were sitting on the floor of their new house - and Rose was surprised by how much she wanted to grin at the words “their house” - when they heard the knock.  They exchanged weary glances, tired and sweaty after a long day of unpacking, and by unpacking they meant they had all the boxes inside the house but hadn’t opened a single one.  Weary because anyone they’d be happy to see in that moment had already been over at some point that day, and it was doubtful that any of them were dropping back over. Which left the likely chance that it was one of their new neighbours.

It wasn’t that Rose and Dimitri didn’t like their neighbours, but rather that 95% of them weren’t happy that a dhampir couple had dared to buy the vacant house on a street full of low level royals.  Still there was a young woman and her guardian friend across the road who had been friendly enough when dropping by with a home-made cake to welcome them to the street, and there was a couple a few doors down who they already had plans to have dinner with, but otherwise their reception had been a tad frosty, not that either of them had expected much more.

So it was with growing trepidation that the pair hauled themselves up and went to answer the door, opening it to reveal their elderly woman who lived next door.  They’d only met the woman earlier that day, and the encounter hadn’t been long, just enough for Rose to be reminded strongly of Yeva, which made her wary to see that the woman had turned up on their doorstep.

“Uh, hi,” Rose said, exchanging a glance with Dimitri.  “Would you like to come in?”

“No, I have to get back to my dogs.  You know I have dogs?”

They had actually, one of their neighbours had been kind enough to mention it while they’d been looking at the house, adding the fact that the dogs often barked at night, no doubt trying to dissuade them from buying.  But they were guardians, a few dogs weren’t going to scare them off.

“Yes, we did.  How can we help you, ma’am?”

Rose wanted to snicker at Dimitri’s use of ‘ma’am’ but their neighbour seemed to appreciate it, if the slight smile she shot him was any indication.

“I just wanted to bring you a housewarming gift.”

“Oh, thank you,” Rose said, surprised.  “You didn’t have to do that.”

Their neighbour ignored her, bent to the box at her feet and withdrew a tiny, squirming puppy, dumping him unceremoniously in Rose’s arms.  Rose glanced at the dog with something akin to terror.

“Umm.”

“One of my dogs just had a litter and this is the only one that I haven’t found an owner for.”

Rose could only blink between the woman and the dog in her arms so Dimitri took over.  “This is very kind of you, but animals don’t really like Dhampirs.”

“Not dogs,” the woman said firmly.  True to her word the puppy wasn’t trying to get away from Rose but was staring up at her with wide, inquisitive eyes.  “You know how to take care of a dog?”

“Umm…” Rose glanced helplessly at Dimitri, who shrugged back at her.

The woman gathered up the rest of the boxes contents, a blanket, and a small stuffed bunny that the dog had evidently been sleeping with and shoved them at Dimitri.

“You’ll figure it out,” the woman said confidently when they didn’t answer and shuffled off the porch without another word.

“Thank you,” Dimitri called after her, receiving a wave in response.

“Umm, Dimitri,” Rose said, the first thing she had since being handed the puppy.  “It’s seems we’ve obtained a puppy.”

“Yeah,” Dimitri replied, for lack of a better response.

They both glanced down at the puppy who chose that exact moment to yawn with a small, content noise and they both instantly fell in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it :) Also if anyone's curious the dog is a German Shepherd.


	8. Day 8: Thankful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's thanksgiving and the next gen are reflecting on their parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next gen kids and ages  
> Rose/Dimitri:  
> Anastasia - 17  
> Ivan - 15  
> Darius, Aleksandra, And Yekaterina - 12
> 
> Lissa/Christian:  
> Andre - 17  
> Rosalie - 16  
> Eric - 13
> 
> Mia/Eddie:  
> Mason - 18  
> Cassie and Connor - 15
> 
> Sydney/Adrian:  
> Hayden - 18  
> Sophie - 16
> 
> *The Mia/Eddie kids aren't actually mentioned so that's more of an fyi*

The queen’s private jet was positively stuffed with teenagers, all being flown from St. Vladimir’s back to their families at Court for the thanksgiving break.  As the jet circled the familiar sprawl of buildings, waiting for the go ahead to land, conversation turned to the parents currently waiting for them down on the tarmac.

“I can’t see Uncle Adrian ever blowing up at you guys,” Andre said, leaning around Anastasia so he could get a look at the brother and sister duo, Hayden and Sophia.

But Hayden shook his head fervently, hair, tousled and curly like his father, but blonde like his mother, swinging wildly.  “You should have seen his face when he caught Sophia’s boyfriend trying to sneak in during the summer.

Sophia mimed an explosion with a wince.  “Mum can be pretty cool, though,” she added.  “Nothing throws her.” Vibrant Ivashkov eyes turned to the Dragomir-Ozera siblings.  “What about you guys? Both your parents are pretty laid back; which one’s the good cop, and which one’s the bad cop?”

Andre, Rosalie, and Eric glanced at each other consideringly.

“If mum’s stressed she’ll yell,” Rosalie said thoughtfully.  “But otherwise we just get cold disappointment.”

“Dad’s the best to go to if you’ve done something bad,” Eric added.

The other two nodded in agreement to that.

“And we know all know who the bad cop is in the Belikov household,” Eric snickered, the others joining in.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anastasia asked, edging between amused and offended.

“Babe,” Andre said placatingly, slipping an arm around her shoulders.  “We’ve all heard Aunty Rose yell.”

The five Belikov siblings exchanged knowing glances, smiles faintly amused.

“Mum will yell, but it’ll only last like five minutes tops, then she’s over it like that,” Ivan explained, snapping his fingers.

“But dad,” Yekaterina said, shaking her head solemnly.

“He’s got the eternal disappointment thing going on,” Aleksandra continued.

“And that can literally go on for like…” Darius added.

“...forever,” the triplets finished together in their usual perfect unison, that creeped the others out as usual.

The intercom suddenly crackled to life, the captain telling them that their descent would begin soon and asking them to please buckle their seatbelts, effectively halting all conversation about parents.

It didn’t matter however who the supposed good cop/bad cop was of each family because when that plane touched down and the teenagers stepped out every single parent was standing there waiting, despite the snow drifting down around them.  Anastasia smiled, kissed Andre with trembling lips before breaking off to head towards her parents with her siblings.

Her mother was dancing around on the spot to stay warm, bundled up in a parka, hat, and scarf, while her father stood unmoveable as usual, probably not even feeling the cold.  She felt a slightly unexpected surge of affection at the sight of them, which was why it smarted a little when her father took her suitcase from her with a simple kiss hello.

Anastasia sighed in replied, the breath visible in the cold hair and met her mother’s amused eyes.  “Still mad about the dent in the car, is he?”

“Well,” her mum said, slipping an arm around her shoulders and steering her towards the car.  “Maybe if you hadn’t gone back to school without telling him…”

She winced at the memory of the furious phone call she’d received her first night back at school.  “Yeah, not my finest moment.”

“Don’t worry, he’ll get over it.”

“When?”

Her mother merely chuckled and shepherded her into the car.  But even with the less than warm welcome, when Anastasia met her father’s eyes in the rearview mirror all she could read in them was love and forgiveness, and she was inexplicably happy that out of all the parents she could have possibly gotten, she’d ended up with hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know sooooooo cheesy, but I felt like writing something fluffy. Also this one is not as Romitri centric but I felt like doing something with next gen. Anyway hope you liked it and let me know what you thought/are hoping to see in the next chapters. Next one is: kindness.


	9. Day 9: Kindness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Belikov family suffers a loss.

The second they walked into the room, big, watery eyes pinned Rose and Dimitri to the spot, demanding answers.

“I’m so sorry,” Rose began, biting her lip as they both settled before their companion.  “But there was nothing we could do.”

There was a sniff but no tears, surprising both Rose and Dimitri.  “Did he suffer?”

Rose grimaced, thinking of the carnage she’d seen, the sight of skin ripped away and innards strewn about still haunting her.

“No,” Dimitri jumped in quickly, surprising Rose.  “It was very quick, he didn’t feel it at all.”

Their companion nodded tightly, and slipped off the chair.  He dodged around Rose’s arms when she reached for him and made for the door, sniffing quietly.  Rose and Dimitri watched him go equally sorrowful looks on their faces.

“You lied to him,” Rose pointed out once he was out of earshot.

Dimitri nodded sagely.  “Sometimes the comfort of a lie is better than the truth.  Besides no child needs to think their favourite toy suffered while it was being torn apart.”

In unison their eyes fell on the perpetrator, who was sulking on the floor by their feet.  Brown eyes peered up at them mournfully and after a moment the shepherd lumbered to his feet, resting his head on Rose’s knee in a blatant show of regret.

“Oh no, mister.  It’s not us you need to be apologising to.”  Rose jerked her thumb in the direction the 5 year old had toddled.  “You know what you need to do.”

The dog huffed in indignation but trotted off obediently, nails clicking on the wooden floors as he did.  Rose and Dimitri sat and listened for the thump as the shepherd no doubt jumped up onto Ivan’s bed, and for the expected outburst that was sure to follow.

They weren’t disappointed.  There was a hiccup then a shout, “No!  Bad Zeus! I love you, but you killed Mr. Rabbit and I haven’t forgiven you yet!”  The words were followed by a heart wrenching sob and Rose and Dimitri let out twin sighs.  They glanced at each other, silently asking who was taking what.

“You take Ivan?” Rose asked.

“You got the yard?”

“Yep,” Rose sighed, trying not to think of the mess of fabric and stuffing that was waiting for her in the backyard.

While Dimitri headed for Ivan’s room, Rose headed for the back door, where she found Anastasia looking out at the yard, looking mildly impressed at the mess.

“It kind of looks like Christmas.”

“Yeah, kind of,” Rose agreed, even as she thought that only in a horror movie would snow be made out of the insides of a beloved childhood toy.  “You want to help me with this?”

Anastasia’s face wavered, obviously not as impressed with the state of the backyard when she was the one who had to clean it up.  But in the end she was her father’s daughter and she nodded reluctantly, following her mother outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anastasia and Ivan are back by popular demand along with the puppy (yes I blatantly stole Zeus the German Shepherd from The Lucky One - I love that dog). Anyway next chapter is: inside. I'm feeling really inspired so I might even post again today :) Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment :)


	10. Day 10: Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been raining for a week, and some members of the Belikov family are handling it better than others.

“Dad,” a voice whined, dragging the word out until it grated on Dimitri’s ears.  “We’re bored. We want to do something!”

“Yeah!”

“Yeah!”

“ _ Yeah!” _

Dimitri glared at his wife when she chimed in with her own agreement, but she merely shrugged with an innocent smile on her face.

“I’m sorry, I thought I had 5 children, not 6.”

Rose poked her tongue out at him, not exactly disproving his point.

“You do realise that it’s absolutely pouring outside, right?”

“Yes, Dad” Aleks sighed in her best  _ ‘we’re not that stupid’  _ voice.

“But it’s been raining all week,” Kat chimed in.

“And we’re going absolutely crazy,” Darius finished for them.

Rose beamed proudly at the triplets, and Dimitri had no doubts that she’d rounded them up, rehearsed them, and sent them out to ambush him as he finished his morning coffee, in the hopes he’d find something entertaining for them to do that day.  Not that they would need much encouraging to pull out the theatrics; Dimitri had always thought that the universe had heard when Rose had complained that her first two children were too serious like himself, and had responded by sending them three of the most dramatic children all at once.

Speaking of… “Ivan and Anastasia don’t seem too bothered by the rain,” Dimitri pointed out smugly.

But of course, the triplets being fluent in Rose-logic, already had an argument to that.

“That’s because Ivan’s reading in our room like the massive nerd he is.”

“Darius,” Rose said warningly.  Dimitri was sure that her original script for this hadn’t included insults.

“And Anastasia is still listening to that stupid album.”

The whole family winced at the reminder.  Anastasia’s favourite singer had recently released a new album, so they’d all been assaulted with the same 12 songs on repeat for the last two days.  Begging finished, the four of them turned their pleading eyes on Dimitri to seal the deal, not that it mattered, because he’d already made up his mind.

“Go tell your siblings to get ready,” he said, and the triplets, along with Rose cheered in excitement, the former’s racing up the stairs making an absolute racket, while Rose bounced over to kiss him.

“Have I ever told you what a good husband and dad you are?”

“Yes, but feel free to tell me again,” Dimitri rumbled slipping his arms around her waist.

“You’re the best, babe.”

Dimitri grinned and ducked his head, lips a mere inch from Rose’s when an indignant screech of protest sounded from above.  Rose groaned, tipping her head back in frustration, and Dimitri pecked a kiss to her throat instead.

“Why did we have kids again?”

Dimitri chuckled, and lead her upstairs to find Ivan and Anastasia standing in their doorways, arguing with their siblings.

“What’s the problem?”

“They said we’re going out.”  Anastasia pointed an accusing finger at the triplets.

“And we are,” Rose said, her and Dimitri breezing down the hall.

“But I was going to listen to my album again.”

“I was going to start the next book of my series.”

“Oh I think 30 million times is more than enough,” Rose chirped to Anastasia.

“Perfect time to take a break,” Dimitri said sympathetically to Ivan.

The pair reached out in unison to push their kids towards their room, firmly enough that it brooked no arguments, and disappeared into their room at the end of the hallway.

An hour, two arguments, and three “I will turn this car around I swear to god”’s later, the Belikov family were winding through the closest city to Court, and pulling up outside a big warehouse-esque building.  Large glowing letters proclaimed it to be the best 24 hour gym.

“A gym?” Ivan, their least athletically inclined child, sighed.  There was a general murmur of agreement around the car, and even Rose, who was usually always down for a workout, looked inclined to agree.

Dimitri sighed, wondering when his family had lost complete faith in him.  “A gym,” he began. “That is also home to the best rock-climbing wall in the state.”

That got the reaction he was looking for and a second later his kids were jumping from the car, mindless of the rain and sprinting towards the entrance.

“So, did I do good?” Dimitri asked smugly, turning to look at his wife.

But she was already gone from the car, running after their kids in excitement.  Dimitri sighed longsufferingly, and followed, resigned to the fact that he did indeed have 6 children instead of 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I capable of writing a non-kid fic? Yes. Do I want to? Not really.
> 
> Nah just kidding. As long as you guy are still enjoying the kids, I'm gonna keep bringing them back. But I will try to mix it up a little with the next few drabbles. 
> 
> Also let's be real the Belikov's are a bunch of jocks, so I'm thinking rock climbing would their idea of a dream outing.
> 
> As always thanks for reading, let me know what you liked/didn't like, and next chapter is: Jump.


	11. Day 11: Jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romitri get a taste for parenting with a misadventure with Zeus

‘That dog has way too much energy.”

Rose eyed the energetic ball of fur that was somehow  _ still  _ bouncing around by their feet and shook her head in wordless agreement.  “How,” was all she managed to get out.

They’d been taking turns for the last two hours to run around with their six-month-old puppy, Zeus, throwing balls, and frisbees, and sticks, literally anything since he would run after literally everything.

“It’s your turn.”  Dimitri nudged his wife, but she didn’t budge an inch further than turning pleading eyes on him.  “No,” he said, shaking his head vehemently. “It’s your turn.”

“But my arm hurts.”

“Tell that to him.”  Dimitri nodded at Zeus who was practically vibrating by that point, tail wagging hopefully, as he nosed the ball at their feet.

Rose groaned, more dramatically then Dimitri had ever heard her, and picked up the ball and lobbed it across the yard in one smooth movement.  She’d put a little bit extra into the throw and the ball had disappeared into the tangled foliage at the back of the yard. It had been there when they’d bought the house and they hadn’t had the time or the effort yet to do anything about cleaning it up.

“Is this what having kids is like?”

Dimitri shrugged as they watched the dog go bounding into the foliage, and disappearing from sight.  He thought back to his childhood, to the way he and his siblings used to run his mother ragged, still bouncing with energy even when she was clearly dead on her feet.

“A little, yeah,” he admitted.

She shuddered delicately, and leant back on a hand, eyes unfocused as she thought.  Dimitri glanced at her; this was the closest they’d come to talking about the whole kid thing since they’d found out it was possible at all, and Rose had wordlessly gone on the pill.  But he waited and Rose didn’t offer anything else. Secretly, he was happy not to discuss it, they were both young and had barely been married two years, he didn’t think either of them were ready for kids.

Dimitri was saved having to find a response, or come up with a topic change, by Rose bolting upright, eyes wide with fear.  “Shit, where’d he go?”

Swearing under his breath, Dimitri scanned the backyard, realising that the puppy hadn’t come running back after retrieving his ball.  They both bolted up off the back porch at the same time and mindless of the spiders and other insects no doubt inhabiting it, went crashing into the foliage.

“Zeus!  Zeus, where are you, baby?” Rose called and heard Dimitri do the same somewhere to her right.  She shoved the fronds out of her face, not caring as they scratched her hands, and desperately searched the garden for the little dog.  Then finally his little face came into view, and God help her it looked like he was smiling at her, no doubt enjoying the attention.

“Dimitri, I found him.”  

She heard Dimitri mutter something in relief, quickly scooped Zeus up before he could disappear again, and went stumbling back out of the foliage.  Dimitri was by her side in an instant, running a careful hand over the puppy’s head, as if checking to make sure he was really okay.

“We are so not ready for kids,” Rose muttered, and ducked down to kiss Zeus’ nose.

Dimitri didn’t answer her but in his head he had to agree as he wrapped an arm around her and brought them both close, the dog already wriggling and squirming, ready to be let down and resume the search for his ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup guys, quick update, hope you guys like it and hopefully the next update will be soon. Next chapter will be Outside, give me ideas guys :D


	12. Day 12: Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri and Karolina have a conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This doesn't really relate to the prompt, but this is what I cam up to. Hope you enjoyed :)

Lazing in the vee of Dimitri’s legs, head pillowed against his stomach, Rose thought she had to be in one of the most comfortable positions in the world.  She was deliciously warm under the afternoon sun’s rays, and the feeling of Dimitri’s hand methodically stroking over her hair was lulling her closer and closer to sleep.

They were on the back porch of the house in Baia, and although they were nearing the end of their vacation, neither of them were talking about that.  They weren’t talking at all. In fact Rose was sure, Dimitri thought she’d actually drifted off, and was she close, lying their enjoying the warm afternoon peace.

Which was broken suddenly by the sound of the back door opening, and then softly banging shut a moment later.  Dimitri’s hand stilled on her forehead, clearly waiting to see if the noise had disturbed her. But Rose’s mind felt like it was moving like syrup, and it was too much of an effort to even scrunch up her nose in displeasure.  The other deck chair squeaked as the person settled, and Rose was happy to let Dimitri converse with the interloper.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so much before.”

Dimitri hummed quietly in thought and wound a lock of Rose’s hair around his finger.  “Maybe it’s because I’m happy, Karo.”

“You’re good for each other.  So don’t screw it up, yeah? We like seeing you two together.”

“And they sent you to tell me that?”

Rose could hear the smile in Karolina’s voice.  “Pretty much. Mama wants her as a daughter-in-law.  She’ll be very unhappy if she doesn’t.”

Dimitri chuckled, and the pair lapsed into a long beat of silence, during which Rose continued to drift, the birds chirping and the distant noises of the town washing over her.

“I hadn’t realised how protective you would be of her.  I had always hoped you’d love her but… ” Dimitri was aiming for casual, but anyone who knew him could hear that he’d missed it by a mile.  “You guys got pretty close, huh?”

“Yeah,” Karo murmured.  “Yeah, really close. It was hard not to, she was so in love with you, so devastated by losing you.  She just clicked with us, and I really thought she was going to stay. We all did. But I guess the universe had other plans.”

Dimitri’s hand disappeared from Rose’s hair, and she just knew that he had reached out to grip his sister’s.

“I’m here, Karo.  I’m alright.”

There was a sniff, then, “Yeah, I know.  I love you, little brother.”

“I love you too.”

Rose heard Karolina get up after another minute and head back inside, and Dimitri’s hand returned to her hair.


	13. Day Thirteen: Friendship

Rose had never had a panic attack before but between the trembling of her hands, the shortness of her breath, and her racing heart, she would hazard a guess that she was about to have one.  The room around her was a blur of activity and Rose felt like she was lost in the middle of it; someone was behind her, pulling and tugging at her hair to make sure every curl was sitting just right, Mia was trying to wrangle Jeanine into a chair to get some makeup on her, and Viktoria was helping Sonja shimmer into her dress, while Karo fiddled with the flowers.  The noise of it all was overwhelming, everyone just talking, to each other, over the top of each other, not seeming to notice that Rose was sitting in the middle of it all, feeling like she was in the middle of the hurricane.

Lissa’s face swam into view, smile fading as concern clouded her features.  She knew instantly that something was wrong, and she grabbed Rose’s hands, squeezing hard.

“Rose.   _ Rose.   _ Just breathe, breathe okay?  You’re worrying me.”

Rose, for once, followed an order without argument and gulped down a breath.

“Besides,” Lissa added after a moment.  “You’re going to ruin your makeup.”

It surprised Rose enough that she laughed, and Lissa smiled, relieved at seeing her friend returning somewhat to normal.  But only momentarily until Rose caught sight of the dress out of the corner of her eye; the perfect dress, the perfect makeup, and the perfect hair, all for what was supposed to be the perfect wedding day.  So why did it feel like she was going to cry?

“Oh god,” Rose murmured, blinking up at the roof in an effort to stop the tears from spilling over, because Lissa was right, she was going to completely mess up her makeup if she didn’t get a grip soon.  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Really?” Lissa said gently, and although Rose was still looking determinedly at the ceiling, she just knew her friend was smiling.  “You’re about to get married, and you don’t know why your emotions might be a little out of control? You’re not… having second thoughts or anything, are you?”

“No!”  The intensity, not to mention the volume of Rose’s voice seemed to surprise them both, not to mention drawing the attention of the rest of the room.  Rose hastily leaned towards Lissa, not wanting to alarm the rest of the room, the occupants of which included her soon to be in-laws. “Never,” she said fiercely.  “I- god I love him so much. And I can’t picture spending my life with anyone else. But…”

Lissa smiled knowingly.  “But everything’s changing.  And even as in love as you are, a part of you, even if it’s tiny, will always be a little worried about change.”

“So what do I do?”

“Trust that you know him, trust that you know yourself, trust in the relationship you guys have built.  You guys are so great together, that even if it isn’t all smooth sailing all the time, you guys can get through it.”

Rose smiled, the last of her tears dissipating.  “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Rose said, huffing out a breath and squaring her shoulders.  “Okay, let’s do this.”


End file.
